This everyday pattern could be triggering your migraines, says study

From clothes to street railings, stripes are everywhere in modern life. But, unfortunately for those of us who suffer from migraines, this might be actually be a big issue – at least according to a new study suggesting that striped patterns could be a trigger.

Scientists from the Netherlands and America have found that merely looking at vertical lines can on an image or in real life, can cause 'neural loop' of brain activity for some people that in turn leads to migraines and even epilepsy in severe cases, the Telegraph reports.

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While up to one in seven of us suffer migraines, the causes are still relatively unclear. But the study authors now believe that seeing stripes could trigger the disabling ailment for people who already have a light sensitivity.

That means everything from your best friend's dress to the radiator in your workplace could be responsible.

'Our findings imply that in designing buildings, it may be important to avoid the types of visual patterns that can activate this circuit and cause discomfort, migraines, or seizures,' said author Dr Dora Hermes of the University Medical Center (UMC) in Utrecht in the journal Current Biology.

'Even perfectly healthy people may feel modest discomfort from the images that are most likely to trigger seizures in photosensitive epilepsy,' she added.

While it has long been established that flickering images can cause both migraines and epileptic seizures, this is the first time that static images have been shown to have a similar impact.

The team now believe that stripes affect the brain by setting off a particular pattern of neural activity known as gamma oscillations.